


Love, Like an Hourglass

by shinykari (meinterrupted)



Category: Push (2009)
Genre: Age Difference, Barebacking, Cunnilingus, Developing Relationship, F/M, Post-Canon, Unsafe Sex, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-17
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-21 09:48:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/596317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meinterrupted/pseuds/shinykari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties.</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love, Like an Hourglass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bgoodg](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bgoodg/gifts).



> First, to bgoodg: I hope you enjoy this! It was a blast to write, once I figured out what the hell the story was doing. :) I wanted to fit in more about the expanded universe, but it never quite fit. :\
> 
> And a HUGE thank you to Abbie and Beena for looking over this story and fixing some big problems that I didn't see at all. Any remaining mistakes are mine.
> 
> Title/summary by Jules Renard.

Cassie Holmes is 14 years old and stupidly in love with Nick Gant.

It's really not a big deal most of the time. Nick is ten years older than her and sees her as his annoying little sister, and Cassie has spent a good chunk of her life ignoring things she sees in her brain. She just pretends she's not in love with him, and gets on with her life, trying to save her mom and dismantle the corrupt government agency that kidnapped her and has held her captive for years.

Unfortunately, now is not most of the time.

She's curled up on one of the two double beds in the shady motel room outside Toronto, arms wrapped around her shins, listening to Nick and Kira fight over the phone--again. It's pretty much all they do, outside the times when Nick locks himself in the bathroom with his latest burner cell and Cassie pretends not to listen to the low rumble of his voice through the overly-thin walls.

"Why don't you see that you can only do so much from the inside, Kira?" he asks, his tone pleading. "Get out and come with us."

Cassie can't hear Kira's voice, but she knows what she's saying. It's the same argument they had when she and Nick were in Bogota, and the same one they had before they skipped out of Hong Kong. Kira is highly placed within Division as Carter's replacement and the only person to survive the drug. Even if the upper management suspects her of sympathizing with the resistance, she can still slip them information. But it's dangerous for both parties, and she wants Nick to come work with her, to work to change Division instead of destroy it.

"I won't go to Division," Nick spits. "They haven't changed, Kira, _you_ have. They've changed you, with the drug, with their ideas-- How can you just go with it, after what they did to you? Pulled you off the street and turned you into a lab rat?" His jaw clenches, the muscles in his face tighten under his three-day-old stubble as he listens to whatever she has to say. "No, you know what? You're right. We can't do this anymore. I gotta go."

He hangs up the phone, turns it off, and pulls out the battery and the SIM card. The air around his hand shimmers iridescently as he crushes the phone with his power, then the battery. Without meeting her eyes, he walks into the bathroom, and the sound of the toilet flushing lets Cassie know what happened to the SIM card.

She starts packing, gathering up their meager belongings. They'll need to buy new phones at a convenience store, and let Emily know they're leaving Canada. She could Sniff them out, but if anyone understands the price that she pays each time she touches something of theirs, it's Cassie, so a phone call is better all around.

"Did you See this coming?" he asks, his voice rough.

"Nick," she says, turning to meet his eyes, "I didn't need to be a Watcher to see this one coming." She tries to keep her voice gentle instead of mocking, but Nick's expression tells her she didn't quite succeed.

He snorted. "I just thought you were jealous."

Cassie gave him her best 'you're an idiot' eyeroll--something she's perfected while travelling with Nick. "In your dreams, hot stuff."

+++

Cassie is 15 years old and she hates Nick's fucking guts.

"You're going to die if you do this, you know," she says for the fifth or sixth time in the last hour, crossing her arms over her thin chest.

"And she's going to die if I don't," he retorts as he shoves clothes into his bag haphazardly. "You said yourself the future isn't set in stone, Cass. We can change it."

Cassie stamps her foot and grits her teeth, muffling her frustrated scream. "I can't _believe_ you, Nick! Did you hear me when I told you it was a trap?"

"Yes," he says, sounding supremely unconcerned. "That's why Hook is going with me."

"So you can get two people killed instead of just one," she snaps back, then winces. "Sorry," she mutters, looking at Hook.

Hook shrugs. He's leaning against the wall, a deck of cards in his hand as he practices his Shifting. He's good, maybe the best there is outside of Division--he should be, since they trained him--but he claims it keeps him sharp. Cassie thinks he just gets bored easily. "I knew this was probably a kamikaze mission when you called. I'm not stupid. But I'd like to take out some of those bastards with me when I go."

"We're not going to die, Cassie," Nick says, shooting a glare at Hook. "This isn't a suicide run, this is a rescue. They have Kira in one of their labs, and we need to get her out."

She rolls her eyes. "You know Division has Watchers too, right? That they are probably seeing this conversation _right now_? You know they'll be ready for whatever you're planning?"

"They won't be ready for us," Nick promises, confident as ever. Cassie grabs two fistfuls of her hair and tugs, resisting the urge to scream again.

"I'll get the car," Hook offers, with a sympathetic glance in Cassie's direction. He steps out of the room, closing the door behind him, and leaving the pair of them alone.

Nick zips his duffle and lays a warm hand on her shoulder. She lets him pull her into a hug, wrapping herself around him and burying her wet face in his shirt. Cassie doesn't know when she started crying, but now that she's noticed, she can't stop. Nick slowly pets her pale blonde hair, twining the purple streak around his fingers. "Cassie, I already failed her once. I can't fail her again," he says.

Cassie doesn't answer right away, just tries to memorize the feel of his hard chest against her cheek and the soapy, slightly sweaty smell of him. "What about me?" she whispers. "What about failing me?"

"Oh, Cass," he breathes, and squeezes her tightly. "I'll be back, I promise."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," she says, and her voice cracks.

He huffs out a soft laugh. "I'm going to keep it." He leans down and presses a kiss to the top of her head. "I'll be back before you know it."

+++

Cassie is 16 years old, and she hasn't seen Nick in almost a year.

"So?" Emily asks her, her gloved fingers wrapped delicately around the spoon she's using to stir her coffee. She's not drinking it, and she won't--Emily never touches restaurant dishes or utensils, because they've been handled by too many people and they give her a headache. It's one of Emily's many quirks, though Cassie can't say much, since she has her own weirdness. It comes with seeing too much of other people's lives, and not enough of their own.

"They'll be here," she assures Emily, tapping her pen impatiently against her sketchpad. "Twenty minutes, tops."

Emily nods, her eyes unfocused as she stares off into the sparse crowd around the café. "It's been a long time."

"Are you eager to get rid of me?" Cassie asks, only half joking. She's anxious about this vision, maybe more anxious than she's been about any she's had in the previous year, which makes no rational sense. She's seen death more times than she can count--her own, her mother's, Emily's, Nick's, and Hook's--but a one-off vision of Nick and Hook walking into this café has her tied up in knots. She doesn't think Emily will catch the way her voice is too high, her words too sharp, but, of course, she does.

Emily turns to her, meeting her eyes. "No, Cassie. You're a pain in my ass but I like you anyway," she says, reaching across the table to lay her gloved hand on Cassie's. The leather is smooth and warm, and the familiar feeling settles the butterflies in her stomach. Emily's the closest thing Cassie has to a mother with her own still buried deep inside Division, and her support means more than Cassie can explain.

She nods, swallowing hard. "Right."

They sit like that for a while longer, until Emily stiffens, her nostrils flaring. "They're here," she murmurs, eyes darting to and fro, trying to pick them out of the crowd.

Cassie takes a deep breath of her own, and turns slowly, her gaze drawn unerringly to the mouth of the alley she saw in her vision. Hook walks out first, his already dark skin browned further by the sun, his crisp khaki slacks and bright Hawaiian shirt blending in perfectly with the tourists. Nick follows soon after, wearing worn jeans and a grey tee, his hair bleached blond. The men turn toward their table, walking close together, eyes wary.

Hook spots them first, his eyes going wide as he reaches back for Nick's arm. They have a silent conversation, all head tilts and shrugs, until Nick sees them. The color drains from his face, and he looks around wildly, obviously checking for a trap. Cassie and Emily sit still and wait, knowing the same paranoia that's giving them pause has kept them alive even at the top of Division's most wanted list.

Finally, _finally _they make their way toward Emily and Cassie's table, dropping wearily into the two conveniently empty chairs. No one speaks for a few moments, and Nick is staring at her like she's a stranger. She wonders what he sees; she's not the little girl he left nearly a year ago. She's still small and slim, but her hips have widened and her chest isn't pancake flat anymore. A few months ago she cut off her blonde hair, so now it only grazes her chin, though she's kept cycling through brightly colored streaks. This week it's purple.__

__She lets herself look at him too, something she hasn't done in far too long. He's still obviously Nick, but this war against Division has changed him. Besides his hair, he has a new scar on his chin, partially hidden by stubble, and his shoulders are even broader than she remembers. His eyes, though, are the same piercing blue, ringed by dark lashes._ _

__Eventually, Cassie gets tired of the silent treatment. "Do I have food on my face, or something?" she asks, retreating into sarcasm to hide the way Nick's regard has warmed her through in ways it didn't before._ _

__It seems to jolt Nick out of his trance, and he jerks backward, shaking his head. "No, you just... You look different," he finished._ _

__Cassie arches an eyebrow at him. "Well, yeah, people do that." She flashes him a quick grin. "Miss me?"_ _

__He smiles back, and there's something in it she can't quite define. "I did."_ _

__+++_ _

__Cassie is 17 years old, and she thinks she might be dying in Nick's arms._ _

__Her heart is still beating, soaking Nick's tee shirt in her blood with each sluggish pump. His lips are warm against her clammy forehead, as he whispers words she can't understand into her skin. The Stitch is cursing, but Cassie doesn't pay attention to him, her eyes locked on Nick's. "Nick..." she whispers, more an exhale than a word._ _

__"I'm here, Cassie, baby, I'm right here, okay?" he says, his voice frantic. "You can't die on me, baby, you _can't_ , okay? You gotta keep it together, Cassie. We need you, the resistance, your mom, we all need you!"_ _

__His tears are warm on her cheek and she smiles. "Do you need me, Nick?" she asks, not sure how she finds the strength._ _

__Nick closes his eyes, more tears clumping his beautiful eyelashes together. When he opens them again, he finds hers unerringly. "I need you, Cassie. I love you, Cassie, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I can't do this without you, okay? So you gotta pull through, you just have to. You _have to_."_ _

__Her smile doesn't fade when her strength does, her head lolling into Nick's chest. "Love you," she whispers, and then everything goes black._ _

__+++_ _

__Cassie Holmes is 18 years old and stupidly in love with Nick Gant._ _

__Emily and Cassie's mother are in the adjoining hotel room, the latter sleeping peacefully and undrugged for the first time in more than five years. Cassie had wanted to stay with her but Emily had shooed her out of the room with a pointed look at Nick. "Go celebrate with your boyfriend," she mutters under her breath, and Nick drags her away without being told twice._ _

__The snick of the deadbolt is still echoing in the room when Nick presses her up against the wall, bending down to capture her mouth with his. She moans and wraps her arms around his neck, arching her back to rub against his body. He sucks her bottom lip in between his teeth and rolls his hips, and she can feel his half-hard cock against her stomach. Cassie whines and digs her short fingernails into the back of his neck, needing _more_ but not willing to let go of his mouth long enough to ask._ _

__Nick seems to understand her unvoiced question and his hands slip down to cup her ass as he nudges one of his thighs between her legs. She lets out a pleased sigh as he presses upward and holds her close, letting her rock against him at her own pace. Cassie moans and stutters in her rhythm when he kisses a line up her jaw and sucks her earlobe into his mouth. "You're beautiful," he whispers, his stubble rough against her skin, "and you were magnificent today."_ _

__"Nick," she pants as she feels pleasure spiraling tighter and tighter in her belly, "I need... I need you."_ _

__"Yeah, yeah," he says, and she yelps in surprise when he lifts her off her feet. She giggles and wraps her legs around his waist as he carries her to the bed and flops her onto it. Nick stands back, his gaze almost tangible on her body as he looks at her. Cassie swallows and moves to close her legs; they've been doing this for months now, since she healed up from the fight in Budapest, but she's still a little embarrassed when Nick looks at her like this. "Don't," he says, and Jesus, his voice is already harsh with desire. He climbs onto the bed, his body a delicious weight on hers as he moves to bracket her head with his arms. "You're so gorgeous," he whispers, and then his tongue is teasing her mouth open and his thigh is back between her legs, and Cassie arches up with a moan._ _

__Somehow, they both get naked, though even under torture Cassie wouldn't be able to explain how. All she knows is Nick's hands are hot on her bare thighs as he parts her legs, his breath cool against her wet cunt. The first touch of his tongue to the space between her folds causes her to jerk up, and he just laughs and presses her hips into the mattress with phantom hands, using his own in tandem with his mouth. Sparks of iridescence light up the dark as Nick uses his Moving power to tease her nipples, and she squirms under his grip as he slowly teases her closer and closer to orgasm, only to back off maddeningly when she gets close. Cassie grunts in frustration, and the next time he tries to move away, she squeezes his head between her thighs, holding him in place until she comes with his name on her lips._ _

__Nick eases her through the aftershocks, using the flat of his tongue to send little jolts of pleasure through her as her body slowly relaxes. When her thighs fall open, he looks up at her, his face shiny with her juices, and grins._ _

__She rolls her eyes at his cockiness and reaches down to grab him by his ear. "Get up here and fuck me, Nick," she says, pulling him in for a messy kiss. He grunts and ruts up between her legs, the head of his cock a hot brand on the hot skin of her inner thighs. She feels it rub against her wetness, and she arches into him. "Nick," she whines impatiently._ _

__"Yeah, yeah," he says, panting into her mouth. "I just need..." Nick trails off and reaches between them, guiding his cock into her as she digs her nails into the skin of his shoulders. He takes his time entering her, shallowly thrusting to give them both time to adjust. Nick isn't overly large, but she's still tight and some nights the stretch borders on too much._ _

__Tonight isn't one of those nights, and as soon as he's fully seated inside her, Cassie rolls her hips, drawing a ragged groan from him. "Fuck, Cass, you feel so good," he says, and slowly begins thrusting, only speeding up with she goads him with an impatient nip on his neck._ _

__The sound of skin on skin mixes with their pleasured moans, and Cassie lets herself float on the sensation of Nick above her, around her, inside her. She won't come from this, she knows; she needs one of them to play with her clit for that. But that doesn't mean this doesn't feel amazing, the hint of burn as his thrusts stretch her cunt, the rasp of his stubble against her cheek when he leans in to get better leverage, the tickle of his damp chest hair against her peaked nipples. When his breath starts to go ragged, she wraps her legs around his waist, meeting him thrust for thrust until he stutters and slams home one final time, coming inside her with an almost pained groan._ _

__Nick collapses on top of her, nuzzling his face into her neck as his cock continues to twitch inside her. "Cassie," he murmurs, his tongue darting out to taste her skin. Her legs are still wrapped around his waist and she squeezes them tightly once more before untangling them reluctantly._ _

__It's another minute before Nick pulls out and flops onto his back, laughing giddily. She rolls her eyes at him and curls up into his side, shivering slightly as her sweat starts to dry in the overly cooled hotel room. "I love you," she whispers, a secret against his skin._ _

__He tugs her closer and presses a soft kiss against her temple. "I love you, too," he murmurs._ _


End file.
